[pictures are still missing in this blog entry - coming up!]
Hello everybody!!! Reporting back at last! So, what is the next awesome trip I should tell you about? Oh, yes, Tasmania! That was really beautiful! I had a lot of breathtaking views there, and I tried my best to save it all on my camera. Well, the down side of that was actually that I took way too many photos, so I still have to sort them out. To tell you the truth, I am still procrastinating (my uni here somehow loves to use this word) it, but I decided, it may finally be better to write something in my blog first.
I flew to Hobart (Tassie) with 14 friends. They are Spanish, German, Indian, Canadian, Mexican and Korean! So it was a really nice and interesting international mix! And from the amount of people you can tell that we really had a lot of fun! We hired four cars, and nearly everyone had a change to drive on the left side of the road... and to clean the windscreen when they actually wanted to use the indicators. We drove a lot, did some hiking through national parks to see beautiful beaches, mountains and rainforests and had a lot of sandwiches. You'll get an idea when you see the pictures - coming up!
With this great bunch of people we organized a weekly international sunday lunch, so everybody could prepare a dish from his or her home country to share with the other. That lunch was very popular and became really huge at the end, but died unfortunately after a lot had to leave Sydney.
On one of those weekends I went on a hiking trip again in the very nice surrounding of Sydney, called the Ki-Ring-Gai Chase. It promised to be another of those ordinary but nice and relaxing hikes, until we decided to check out one of those creeks we crossed on our way a little closer. Somehow one of those branches I held on to to get over that creek couldn't bear my weight anymore (I'm not that heavy, the tree was just rotten!) and I fell into the water! Well, it was quite funny then, since I was wet already, I could just walk THROUGH the creeks and waterfalls. So it turned out to be a canyoning trip rather than a hiking trip for me.
On the next weekend (I was dry already and didn't actually get a cold from that last trip) I had the opportunity to go inside the Opera House! Gordon got some free tickets from his flatmate who is working there, so we could enjoy listening to a Welsh choir. It does not sound that interesting, but they were really funny, so it was really great!
I also had a concert myself one day. Not in the Opera House, haha. I played in my uni's Jazz band. But since they do not have a drumset in my uni, I had to play on my Djembe (I bought it already shortly after I arrived in Sydney, I just cannot leave my hands off drums...). So we played a rather African kind of Jazz. ;)
Oh well, and since Sydney is a lot more expensive than Berlin, I had to find a job. I found a casual job in a café in the north of Sydney. I don't earn a lot, but therefore it is fun and I get to learn how to make proper coffees and stuff. I would really like to continue doing this back in the Atomic café in my university in Berlin, but they do not have a proper coffee machine. Maybe someday... ;)
Another thing that I would really like to continue doing in Berlin is climbing! I started to do some indoor climbing a couple of weeks ago, and now I cannot get enough of it anymore! It is really a lot of fun, I make a lot of progress, and it is a great workout! I cannot wait to go again! Mmhh, probably Monday again. Hope I find a belayer!
I actually didn't go climbing for TWO weeks already. Well, the one week, I participated in the East Coast Challenge. That is where all the universities of New South Wales (Australia's most populous state) play in a tournament against each other in a variety of sports. I played Ultimate Frisbee. We were not the best team, since half of us never played before and we did not practice a lot (it was raining a lot...), but we definitely made the most progress during the tournament! Another tournament, and we will beat them all! GO UTS!!!
The last week, I travelled to Melbourne! You would think it is just next to Sydney, but it took me twelve hours on the train to get there! Yes, Australia is huge. Fortunately, the train was going overnight, so I could sleep the whole way (at least I tried to). I spent two days in the city and two days driving along the famous Great Ocean Road with a friend. That was also an awesome trip, with great landscapes, and I could drive a car again, with gear shifter on the left hand side. Now I have more experience driving on the left side of the road than on the right side in Germany.
I mentioned earlier that it was raining here. Yes, that is true! I never could have imagined, but it actually rains a lot in Sydney. Normally twice as much as in Berlin, but this year it was terrible. It just flooded all the streets, and it was so windy sometimes that the streets and foothpaths were full of umbrellas, tossed away after they snapped in the storm. And I nearly didn't bring my raincoat, I should have brought my rain pants as well! I laughed at the thought that it might rain here when I was back in Berlin. :D
What is also really sad, is the fact that I already had to say goodbye to a lot of new friends I met here in Sydney. :'( Uni finished about two weeks ago, and nearly all the international students have to go back to their countries or are travelling around Australia right now. So the last weeks were full of farewell parties and sad goodbyes.
Oh, and even I will have to say goodbye soon. I had a couple of reasons and thought about everything a long time, but finally decided that I will return to Berlin in October already, that means 3 months earlier than I planned before! I hope all my friends in Berlin are a little happier now, since I am really looking forward to seeing all of them again!
My next plans are that I am going to travel around Australia for one month, starting in the first weeks of August. I will fly to Adelaide (on the southern coast), take a trip up to Darwin (northern coast) through the Outback, then visit Cairns and the east coast. I am sure it will be huge and awesome! And to top it, I plan to travel around South Korea after that, since I have some friends there who I want to visit.
I hope I will have time to write my next blog entry a little earlier. I am so very sorry it took me so long to write this, but as you can read, quite a lot happened. I really apologise that you had to wait so long to hear from me again. I would also really love to hear from all you guys in Berlin again!
Hello everybody!!! Reporting back at last! So, what is the next awesome trip I should tell you about? Oh, yes, Tasmania! That was really beautiful! I had a lot of breathtaking views there, and I tried my best to save it all on my camera. Well, the down side of that was actually that I took way too many photos, so I still have to sort them out. To tell you the truth, I am still procrastinating (my uni here somehow loves to use this word) it, but I decided, it may finally be better to write something in my blog first.
I flew to Hobart (Tassie) with 14 friends. They are Spanish, German, Indian, Canadian, Mexican and Korean! So it was a really nice and interesting international mix! And from the amount of people you can tell that we really had a lot of fun! We hired four cars, and nearly everyone had a change to drive on the left side of the road... and to clean the windscreen when they actually wanted to use the indicators. We drove a lot, did some hiking through national parks to see beautiful beaches, mountains and rainforests and had a lot of sandwiches. You'll get an idea when you see the pictures - coming up!
With this great bunch of people we organized a weekly international sunday lunch, so everybody could prepare a dish from his or her home country to share with the other. That lunch was very popular and became really huge at the end, but died unfortunately after a lot had to leave Sydney.
On one of those weekends I went on a hiking trip again in the very nice surrounding of Sydney, called the Ki-Ring-Gai Chase. It promised to be another of those ordinary but nice and relaxing hikes, until we decided to check out one of those creeks we crossed on our way a little closer. Somehow one of those branches I held on to to get over that creek couldn't bear my weight anymore (I'm not that heavy, the tree was just rotten!) and I fell into the water! Well, it was quite funny then, since I was wet already, I could just walk THROUGH the creeks and waterfalls. So it turned out to be a canyoning trip rather than a hiking trip for me.
On the next weekend (I was dry already and didn't actually get a cold from that last trip) I had the opportunity to go inside the Opera House! Gordon got some free tickets from his flatmate who is working there, so we could enjoy listening to a Welsh choir. It does not sound that interesting, but they were really funny, so it was really great!
I also had a concert myself one day. Not in the Opera House, haha. I played in my uni's Jazz band. But since they do not have a drumset in my uni, I had to play on my Djembe (I bought it already shortly after I arrived in Sydney, I just cannot leave my hands off drums...). So we played a rather African kind of Jazz. ;)
Oh well, and since Sydney is a lot more expensive than Berlin, I had to find a job. I found a casual job in a café in the north of Sydney. I don't earn a lot, but therefore it is fun and I get to learn how to make proper coffees and stuff. I would really like to continue doing this back in the Atomic café in my university in Berlin, but they do not have a proper coffee machine. Maybe someday... ;)
Another thing that I would really like to continue doing in Berlin is climbing! I started to do some indoor climbing a couple of weeks ago, and now I cannot get enough of it anymore! It is really a lot of fun, I make a lot of progress, and it is a great workout! I cannot wait to go again! Mmhh, probably Monday again. Hope I find a belayer!
I actually didn't go climbing for TWO weeks already. Well, the one week, I participated in the East Coast Challenge. That is where all the universities of New South Wales (Australia's most populous state) play in a tournament against each other in a variety of sports. I played Ultimate Frisbee. We were not the best team, since half of us never played before and we did not practice a lot (it was raining a lot...), but we definitely made the most progress during the tournament! Another tournament, and we will beat them all! GO UTS!!!
The last week, I travelled to Melbourne! You would think it is just next to Sydney, but it took me twelve hours on the train to get there! Yes, Australia is huge. Fortunately, the train was going overnight, so I could sleep the whole way (at least I tried to). I spent two days in the city and two days driving along the famous Great Ocean Road with a friend. That was also an awesome trip, with great landscapes, and I could drive a car again, with gear shifter on the left hand side. Now I have more experience driving on the left side of the road than on the right side in Germany.
I mentioned earlier that it was raining here. Yes, that is true! I never could have imagined, but it actually rains a lot in Sydney. Normally twice as much as in Berlin, but this year it was terrible. It just flooded all the streets, and it was so windy sometimes that the streets and foothpaths were full of umbrellas, tossed away after they snapped in the storm. And I nearly didn't bring my raincoat, I should have brought my rain pants as well! I laughed at the thought that it might rain here when I was back in Berlin. :D
What is also really sad, is the fact that I already had to say goodbye to a lot of new friends I met here in Sydney. :'( Uni finished about two weeks ago, and nearly all the international students have to go back to their countries or are travelling around Australia right now. So the last weeks were full of farewell parties and sad goodbyes.
Oh, and even I will have to say goodbye soon. I had a couple of reasons and thought about everything a long time, but finally decided that I will return to Berlin in October already, that means 3 months earlier than I planned before! I hope all my friends in Berlin are a little happier now, since I am really looking forward to seeing all of them again!
My next plans are that I am going to travel around Australia for one month, starting in the first weeks of August. I will fly to Adelaide (on the southern coast), take a trip up to Darwin (northern coast) through the Outback, then visit Cairns and the east coast. I am sure it will be huge and awesome! And to top it, I plan to travel around South Korea after that, since I have some friends there who I want to visit.
I hope I will have time to write my next blog entry a little earlier. I am so very sorry it took me so long to write this, but as you can read, quite a lot happened. I really apologise that you had to wait so long to hear from me again. I would also really love to hear from all you guys in Berlin again!
